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    Working in Japan

    Thought I would start a new thread for this instead of posting in the japanese resource thread and going off topic. Just looking for some advice from you guys as I knows theres a few of you still in Japan who know the situation out there in terms of getting work.

    Heres my current situation, Im currently enrolled in a BA in Film and Im just starting my second year, I love it so far but I know quite a few people who already have a degree in the same subject who are still working minimum wage jobs and have made no progress getting into the film industry, with even the lecturers and industry professionals who come and do guest visits saying that getting into the film industry in this country is more down to contacts than a degree (and with the film industry in the state its in at the moment even people who have worked on major films for years are struggling to find work). Basically unless you want to work as an academic the degree is useless. So what I've been thinking about recently is whether I should cut my losses and take a gap year, get a TEFL and try to find work in Japan on a working holiday visa and try to stay there permanently. Change the subject of my degree and start again from scratch in an area where I have no previous knowledge or carry on for the next two years and get my film degree, get a TEFL on the side and then move to Japan.

    A quick look on gaijinpot and there seems to be plenty of jobs available, some of them require a degree but most just want you to be in Japan with a visa and be a native speaker. However I would be after a full-time job with a permanent position and not with a company like GABA or Nova who pay per lesson. When it says a degree as a requirement is that any degree or one in teaching? Also Ive lived in Japan before for a year and have about 10 months worth of teaching experience (with both children and adults).

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated

    #2
    They don't care what subject your degree is. I would bear in mind that TEFL in Japan is pretty much a go-nowhere job. I really wouldn't want to have to do that for the rest of my life, but then I hate teaching. If you want advice from someone who finished university with a useless degree and has done English teaching in Japan on a working holiday visa - forget all of those ideas. Do an apprenticeship and become a plumber or a builder or an electrician or something. Wish I'd done that!

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      #3
      Im 28 which means I'm too old to apply for those sort of apprenticeships in this country (looked into it before starting my degree). Also teaching english isn't too bad of a job, it just depends where you work. As I said I would rather avoid places like NOVA and GABA as my experience working for GABA was not a pleasant one, but working in a proper language school or primary/high school with a full-time contract is a much better one. It beats what I'm doing at the moment (customer service) and I can still do film making on the side.

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        #4
        Yeah, my friend worked at GABA - I would definitely not reccommend it. If you don't mind teaching, and you REALLY love Japan, it might not be a bad plan if you get a job at a private school or whatever. I had a pretty good job (great hours and pay), but the actual work was giving me a mental breakdown, so that kind of thing is possible. That was just after the earthquake though, so lots of English teachers had fled the country. Not sure what the employment situation is like right now.

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          #5
          Speaking as someone who was with NOVA for 5 years (3 years before the bankruptcy and 2 years after in Gcom-NOVA), find a better job. I would go back to Japan in a heartbeat but not if I had to go back into that crap. NOVA used to pay per lesson based on 40 lessons per week per month so the per lesson rate actually varied with how many days you worked per month. Pre-bankruptcy pay was of course better as Gcom cut everything to try and make it work after they were hemorrhaging money at the start. GABA was just stupid. No lessons = no pay. Yet when NOVA was going under people flocked there by the dozens.

          The degree (any degree, mine is in astrophysics) is the requirement for a full-time work visa which is why companies ask for it. Unless you marry within the year you have on your working holiday visa you'll be coming home again.

          Work remembering city tax, which will catch up to you if you do stay for over a year and works out as about half a months pay per year. So you THINK you get some decent money...but then you have to pay.

          Assistant language teachers who work in schools used to be sub-contracted from places like Interac, who would recruit from abroad and within Japan then assign teachers to schools. Around the time NOVA was tanking, schools were trying to hire ALTs directly and were getting SWAMPED with applications as they not only got better pay but healthcare, etc. If that many people did leave after the earthquake last year you may have luck doing that, but again would still need a degree. TEFL would give you an advantage as well.

          I have a friend who makes his living from teaching privately, but being in his late-50s and married to a Japanese woman who also works full-time means he doesn't need to worry too much during a dry spell. I do have a friend working as an ALT and will ask him about what the situation is like these days.

          Also, MrSands works in an english school there still so hopefully he'll pop in with a few words.
          Last edited by kryss; 23-09-2012, 02:41.

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            #6
            Originally posted by Kryss View Post
            Speaking as someone who was with NOVA for 5 years (3 years before the bankruptcy and 2 years after in Gcom-NOVA), find a better job. I would go back to Japan in a heartbeat but not if I had to go back into that crap. NOVA used to pay per lesson based on 40 lessons per week per month so the per lesson rate actually varied with how many days you worked per month. Pre-bankruptcy pay was of course better as Gcom cut everything to try and make it work after they were hemorrhaging money at the start. GABA was just stupid. No lessons = no pay. Yet when NOVA was going under people flocked there by the dozens.

            The degree (any degree, mine is in astrophysics) is the requirement for a full-time work visa which is why companies ask for it. Unless you marry within the year you have on your working holiday visa you'll be coming home again.

            Work remembering city tax, which will catch up to you if you do stay for over a year and works out as about half a months pay per year. So you THINK you get some decent money...but then you have to pay.

            Assistant language teachers who work in schools used to be sub-contracted from places like Interac, who would recruit from abroad and within Japan then assign teachers to schools. Around the time NOVA was tanking, schools were trying to hire ALTs directly and were getting SWAMPED with applications as they not only got better pay but healthcare, etc. If that many people did leave after the earthquake last year you may have luck doing that, but again would still need a degree. TEFL would give you an advantage as well.

            I have a friend who makes his living from teaching privately, but being in his late-50s and married to a Japanese woman who also works full-time means he doesn't need to worry too much during a dry spell. I do have a friend working as an ALT and will ask him about what the situation is like these days.

            Also, MrSands works in an english school there still so hopefully he'll pop in with a few words.
            Well the visa issue might not be a problem as my girlfriend of 4 years is japanese and in Japan so we could potentially get married before the year is up. Reason we are not married now is because she wanted me to have a full-time job and be living in Japan before I can even meet her parents and I couldn't get another working holiday visa without being a student. Even if things fall through with her though I could still come back and finish off my degree plus have some cash in my pocket due to the high value of the yen if i decided to go down that route.

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              #7
              Teaching in Japan is brilliant, but obviously not for everyone.

              I only intended to stay here for a year, but that was more than a decade ago, and I want to teach here for the rest of my working life.

              I have two excellent part time jobs and a network of private students which means a take-home income of around ten million yen a year. As pointed out, city taxes take some of that, but that still leaves a very handy package which, at current exchange rates, is better than most people in the UK can get.

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                #8
                Could you not convert your year1 credits to a different degree like English or education then do the Tefl and / or the uk pgce then you would be qualified to teach over here too? I did a very similar type of degree to what you are doing now (a media industry one) and its who you know not what you know for media degrees

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                  #9
                  Dude, I'll add to what others have said in that teaching in a conversation school is NOT the way to go. I've been teaching here for 10 years and yes in conversations schools. Getting close to severe burn out and cutting my own wrists..

                  Other than that it's not all that bad

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                    #10
                    10 years in a conversation school?

                    Did you not fancy working in a high school or junior high school? They are so much better to work for.

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                      #11
                      Out of curiosity, can anyone who's a native English speaker teach English in Japan? Don't you need formal education?

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                        #12
                        Conversation schools are more lax than you would imagine, otherwise they would have had to pay people more. There was a TEFL bonus supplement and an education degree supplement but most of us had neither. A friend of mine didn't even have a degree, but he is old enough that he actually learnt grammar in school.

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                          #13
                          I've been in Japan for 5 years now and I have to say that working in an elementary school here was way more interesting and forfilling than working in a conversation school. I kinda regret leaving that job and returning to a coversation school but the pay was terrible. I was hired though a subcontractor that basically paid peanuts, so I would recommend going for a direct hire with a school. Unfortunately that is easier said than done. Especially if you're not fluent in Japanese.

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                            #14
                            Company I work for now requires you have some kind of official qualification, like a celta for example.
                            Other places like GABA don't have teachers, they have 'language instructors'...

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                              #15
                              Did the language school and public school gigs, now I work in an office with translation and all I can say is you're better of getting some more actual skills that will be of use to you. Teaching will pay your bills but it is not a career here, and just having language skills is not enough to do something different, you need IT or business qualifications. I have a First BA in Japanese and I am one a penny. If you have no degree and no certifications then it will be even more difficult.

                              I am also 28 and me and my wife are thinking of returning to the UK just because of the above. Japan is awesome, and I have lived on and off in Tokyo since being 18, but you seriously will find it hard going in the long run with the skill set you have.

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